Farming

[Azi Tohak]

I can't give my thoughts on this.

Zimbabwe rules out returning land to white farmers Sun Jul 31, 8:18 AM ET

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe will not invite back white farmers whose land was seized by President Robert Mugabe's government despite calls by the central bank chief to allow them to help the struggling agriculture sector, state media reported.

"The land here is for the black people and we are not going to give it back to anybody. We are not inviting any white farmers back," Security Minister Didymus Mutasa, also in charge of Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement, told the state-owned Sunday Mail.

Since 2000 Mugabe's government has seized thousands of white-owned farms after often violent invasions by government-backed veterans of the country's 1970s struggle against white rule.

But Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono recently urged Mugabe's government to allow some white farmers back on to the seized farms to help revive an economy near collapse.

Gono has said while some new black farmers were doing well, he was disappointed with the performance of others, adding that the government should allow some of the skilled former white commercial farmers to resume operations in strategic areas such as horticulture.

A recent World Bank study on Zimbabwe's agriculture sector said the government's land reforms had redistributed 80 percent of farmland and improved racial distribution of agricultural property, but had increased poverty.

Once the mainstay of the economy, agriculture now contributes 40 percent to national exports, makes up 18 percent of gross domestic product, and employs 30 percent of the formal labor force and 70 percent of the population, it said.

Official statistics show that the sector saw output falling by 3.3 percent in 2004, worsening food shortages which the WFP says could threaten up to a third of the country's 12 million people.

Mutasa said a newly-created National Land Board would scrutinize some land beneficiaries to make sure they had enough agricultural machinery and capacity to farm.

Zimbabwe's mainly white Commercial Farmers' Union says that nearly 4,000 white farmers have been dispossessed, leaving between 600 and 800 still on their land.

Mugabe's government says the land seizures are necessary to redress ownership imbalances created by Britain's 1890s colonization of the southern African state, but critics say the seizures have resulted in food shortages because the new owners lack farming experience.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050731/...mbabwe_land_dc

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Azi

[Slyspy]

Zimbabwe is Britain's shame while we go poncing about in Iraq wasting time, lives, money and political will.

[scooter_the_shooter]

If that country wont take those farmers we should. We should have most of our food be made here, not mexico.... I think if they wont use those farmers America should offer them citizenship... we could sure use them.


And I think that country deserves NO foreign aid because of this. They wont even help themselves.

[Byzantine Prince]

Aren't the whites in Zimbabue the racists that took independence from g.britain and were trying to turn Rhodesia into a slave state?

No wonder they are angry is what I say.

[scooter_the_shooter]

Who cares what they think, give them the land. I would rather have that then have another country free loading off foreign aid.

[Taffy_is_a_Taff]

The Rhodesians I have met (seriously, they've all been people who left at the time of the civil war so they aren't Zimbabwean/Zambian/Malawian) have all been fricking cool people. If Mugabe doesn't stop being a turd then I think the rest of the world should fall over themselves trying to get the white farmers of Zimbabwe as immigrants (especially in countries w. increasingly screwed agricultural sectors, which I guess is most of the western world except New Zealand).

[Slyspy]

Yes there was an element of white supremacy in the land-formerly-known-as-Rhodesia. Unfortunately the recent events in Zimbabwe have proved that those whites were indeed superior to the current leadership in, for example, their ability to farm the land commercially. Mugabe inherited a stable and prosperous nation and redressing the balance between white and black Zimbabweans was necessary. However investment of government funds in education, industry and urbanization (the urban population is mainly black) would have done this, backed by a rich agricultural sector. Sadly he has become a paranoid racist dictator ruling over a kleptocracy and in so doing he and his cronies are destroying the country. The turn-a-blind-eye and not-our-affair attitude of other African countries (especially South Africa) is not helping.

[Tribesman]

Typical nutjob dictator , blaming people who are different for all the problems in the country .
Agriculture is a funny business , it pays commercially only if done on a large scale (unless subsidised massively) . It can pay on a small scale , only if you concentrate on specialised crops/stock , to specialise in an area you must develop the specialist knowledge and a market for those premium goods you produce .
Mugabe is sending his country the same way as a multitude of other dickheads like Amin or deValera did .
The trouble with revolutions is that generally all the good people are marginalised or killed and the fools rise to prominence .

[Azi Tohak]

The Rhodesians I have met (seriously, they've all been people who left at the time of the civil war so they aren't Zimbabwean/Zambian/Malawian) have all been fricking cool people. If Mugabe doesn't stop being a turd then I think the rest of the world should fall over themselves trying to get the white farmers of Zimbabwe as immigrants (especially in countries w. increasingly screwed agricultural sectors, which I guess is most of the western world except New Zealand).

The most beautiful girl I've ever met was Rhodesian. 5'10", stacked, brilliant... mouth like a sailor...

Anyway, back to topic, Slyspy...that was excellent.

Sure, BP, you can blame the whites, the blacks have been doing that for ages, nevermind that the blacks did not think their situation through and get something set up before expelling the whites. But how exactly does that help the blacks?

And now, as ceasar010 pointed out, it will be the West's responsibility to help them. Yeah! Let us give more money to corrupt officials who will continue to oppress the people. Or, we can give no money at all and let them starve.

Great. Which do you choose?

Azi

[Papewaio]

(especially in countries w. increasingly screwed agricultural sectors, which I guess is most of the western world except New Zealand).

When you say New Zealand you do mean the North, South and West Island correct?

[Taffy_is_a_Taff]

there's a
West Island?

[Papewaio]

Australia

[Taffy_is_a_Taff]

sure, why not, is the farming still good there too?

Australia sounds perfect.

[Roark]

@ Papewaio: Blasphemy!!!

@ Forum:

Mugabe is an embarrassing disgrace to the Commonwealth. Does anyone know if Zimbabwe has been formally ejected from it?

[Slyspy]

I believe not. Neither, I suspect, would Mugabe care. Some other African states might follow. Though no great loss to the Commonwealth it would be a shame to lose that small influence over them.

[Roark]

That's the thing. I'm a great believer in the Commonwealth. It's a great family to be a part of, and I think it has been instrumental in developing the former colonies from the (much bloodier) age of Empire. Mugabe's departure from everything the Commonwealth stands for is sad, because Zimbabwe will no longer have that "older brother" kind of role-model. His loss.

[Slyspy]

Paternalism has its place, to be sure, but the Commonwealth no longer really operates in this way. Africa wants help on their terms not ours, which is fair enough but not often desirable or even effective. Like so many post-War institutions (the UN and NATO included) the Commonwealth needs reform and a new direction.